


Withered Flowers Must Blossom

by artikgato



Series: Souyowrimo 2017 [5]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe, Borrowed the setting from Ancient Magus' Bride, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Mystery, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-03-11 07:38:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13519551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artikgato/pseuds/artikgato
Summary: “Yosuke,” Souji named, and Yosuke’s eyes slid closed, his grin fading to a pleased smile. The black void turned white around them.“Yosuke,” he said, as if tasting the name. “I like it.”(Added a new chapter for Souyowrimo 2018!)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't quite a crossover with The Ancient Magus' Bride/Mahoutsukai no Yome, so I didn't tag it as such. I borrowed the setting, if that makes any sense, and tried to imagine the plot of Persona 4 but set in that kind of world. This is also one of my prompts from Souyowrimo 2017, for the "fantasy" day.

“A church grim?” Souji asked, his cool silver eyes looking over the small tea table at his guest with a great deal of confusion. “I’m being requested all the way out in Inaba just to take care of a church grim?” 

“That is only the first,” the silver-haired man sitting opposite him sighed. “Not many are willing to travel out to Inaba, so they’ve let quite a number of other requests pile up.”

“How long do you expect I’ll be there for?” Souji asked. He got nothing from the older man but a shake of his head.

“There is no telling. You’d better pack warm clothing, as winter is approaching,” he replied. Souji blinked.

“I haven’t said I’ll accept the requests,” he said.

“I’ve accepted them for you,” the older man replied. “Requests here in the city have been dwindling. You need to restore the Seta name to something to be proud of.”

“B-but, I-” Souji started to protest, but the other man simply stood up.

“I’ve arranged for your train fare as well. You leave tomorrow morning. Is that clear?” he asked, and his silver eyes bored down on Souji, so cold and commanding, that all Souji could do was nod.

“Yes, father,” he replied, trying not to sound bitter.

“Good. And while you’re in Inaba, perhaps you’d like to learn how to make a decent cup of tea?” his father suggested, coldly, before turning and leaving. Souji kept his head bowed as he left, not daring to let his father see the anger burning on his face. He’d just started to get used to his life here in Tokyo, and now he was being sent out to a tiny town like Inaba? Where he’d be taking care of small, unimportant cases like exterminating church grims? He let his rage seethe out as soon as his father had left, shutting the door behind him. 

* * *

 

Luckily, Souji’s father had also arranged for lodging in Inaba, so that he didn’t have to struggle to find an open house in the small town. Ryoutaro Dojima, come to find out, was actually Souji’s uncle on his mother’s side. He had been none the wiser until the gruff-looking man introduced himself as such. He would later find out that his parents were ashamed of their Inaba heritage and had hidden it from Souji for his entire life. It didn’t come as much of a shock as it should have to him, to be honest. (As time went by, he would find that he greatly preferred the outwardly cold but inwardly warm Dojima, and he would end up adoring his young cousin, Nanako.) 

Dojima was also the police detective in charge of supernatural cases in the Yasoinaba area, which was extremely convenient. The huge stack of requests that he plunked down on Souji’s desk, however, was not. 

“These are all requests for the Magus Order?” Souji asked, incredulously, and Dojima just nodded, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Yes. A lot of them are probably old enough that they’ve resolved naturally, and...I still haven’t caught them, but there are non-mages around here that seem to go around solving these cases on their own,” Dojima replied.

“But that’s dangerous,” Souji replied, and Dojima sighed.

“They’re probably teenagers. Amateur witches or whatnot. I can’t say this officially, but they’ve actually been very helpful. Getting a mage out here is, well…” Dojima trailed off, and Souji nodded.

“Yeah. I had to be forced to come out here myself but…” a sigh, “now that I’m here, I might as well get started.” He picked up the paper on the top of the stack and, sure enough, it was the request made about the church grim. As much as he wanted to try to do the older requests first, as they would probably already be resolved...he knew he needed to do some actual work. If nothing else, he needed to get paid. 

And so, he found himself in the local graveyard at 3am, huddled in his mages’ robes with only a small lantern for light. It was...surprisingly cold. He had (begrudgingly) taken his father’s advice and packed warm clothing, but he hadn’t thought he’d need it just yet. He let out a small sigh, careful not to make any noise, and resisted checking the time for what felt like the thousandth time. 

He hoped the stupid grim showed up tonight - if it didn’t he’d be out here tomorrow night,  _ again _ . And again after that, until he found the grim. 

Just when he had started to doze off a little - he wasn’t even sure  _ how _ , as he was both cold and uncomfortable, kneeling on the hard dirt - he heard a distant sound. It sounded like crying. And, predictably, it was coming closer. Good, it looked like the grim was going to show up after all. The crying got steadily louder, going from a faint just barely-there sound and rising to an audible level, like that of a human sobbing loudly. And then the grim appeared...or maybe not.

What did appear was a man, which was definitely not a normal church grim thing, but not entirely unheard of. What  _ was _ weird was the fact that the man didn’t have a scrap of black anywhere on him. Between the light of the almost-full moon and the lanterns set up around the graveyard in intervals, Souji could tell for certain that this man was most definitely not wearing black clothing, nor was his hair black. He had slightly tan skin and light brown hair, and he was wearing a white shirt and red pants. Not how a grim would look by any stretch of the imagination, but-

He was definitely not  _ human _ . He’d walked out of thin air, for starters. He was also crying a name, and to the average person he might just look like a distressed person who’d lost their lover or relative, but the cries had that specific tininess to them that suggested that he was somehow supernatural. 

Still, this was very odd. The reports had said that the church grim was haunting the grave of a recently deceased woman by the name of Saki Konishi. And, indeed, the crying man was calling her name, and kneeling down at her grave, clutching the stone in bare hands and sobbing. Dressed for the part or not this being  _ had _ to be the church grim... or whatever was being mistaken for one. 

Making as little noise as possible, Souji dropped the bundle of bamboo and eucalyptus he had been holding, as he decided that this being was more of a threat than he’d initially thought it would be. He very carefully reached down to his thigh and started to loosen the bindings on the mage’s rod he had strapped to his leg, pulling it free and unsheathing a dagger from his belt with his opposite hand. He didn’t want to fight, but if he had to…

Just as he was getting ready to stand up and calmly announce his presence, he sensed something… else. So did the not-grim, as the man immediately froze and started to look around in a panic. Maybe he really  _ was _ just a normal person, and the actual grim was going to arrive soon? But, no, the sudden dark chill in the air was definitely not a grim. It was something much, much more sinister. 

“I thought I’d find you here if I waited long enough,” a voice cut through the air, and both Souji and the not-grim froze, wide-eyed. Souji felt fear climb up his back and settle in his throat for the first time in years, fighting down a full-body shiver.

The voice had come from behind him.

Footsteps started to sound, the soft crunching of leaves underneath boots, as someone - no, some _ thing _ approached, and all Souji could do was fight to remain as still as possible, dagger at the ready. The way he was wearing his cloak made it so that he couldn’t easily see behind him without turning his head.

“Wh-who are you?” the not-grim asked, and Souji’s eyes flicked back to him, his face a mask of fear, as he stared at whatever was approaching from behind Souji. Souji heard a chuckle, and every nerve in his body wanted him to run away as fast as possible as the being spoke again.

“That doesn’t matter, does it? You won’t be alive long enough to care,” the voice said, and to Souji’s intense, momentary relief, the being stepped past him, missing him only by a few feet, and continued walking towards the not-grim. It hadn’t seen him at all. Its true target was the not-grim, who was starting to back away in fear. From the angle he was crouched at, Souji couldn’t see much of the newcomer’s features, but he could tell that he at least had the form of a man with short, black hair. And to Souji’s utter confusion, he was dressed like...a normal person. He was wearing what looked like a casual suit - black pants, black coat, red tie, white shirt, with a yellow coat over that. He wasn’t even holding any kind of weapon. Who - or more accurately,  _ what _ , was he?

“What do you want?” the not-grim asked, panicked, and Souji realized that he was being very carefully steered back towards a large tree. Whatever this strange being was, it was a very seasoned hunter. Souji didn’t want to get involved - he  _ really _ didn’t - but this was his first assignment, damn it all, and he needed to get paid. And the look on the brown-haired man’s face was absolutely destroying his self-restraint.

“That’s far enough,” Souji said, voice clear and cutting through the night, and the newcomer stopped, slowly turning his head to peer over his shoulder at Souji. He had normal enough looking features, but his eyes were bright red and even seemed to be glowing, and the sinister look on his face was enough to make Souji’s blood run cold.

“Ehhh? What’s this? Did a Mage finally deign to grace our little town with his presence?” the newcomer asked, with a big, cold smirk. “I’ll bet you thought it would be easy out here, like shooting fish in a barrel. Heheh.”

“Who are you?” Souji asked, slowly but calmly lifting his hand to reveal the dagger he was holding. The newcomer laughed again.

“Like I told this guy, you won’t live long enough for it to matter,” the black-haired man said, turning back to the not-grim just in time to see him trying to sneak away. “Oh no you don’t.”

The newcomer made to lunge at the terrified brown-haired man, but Souji quickly lifted his rod and fired off a small fire spell, making sure that it impacted on the ground directly between them. The not-grim yelped, and the newcomer turned back to him with a glare. 

“Hey now, little mage. Wait your turn, I’ll eat you once I’m done with him,” he said, his tone a warning. Souji repressed a shudder -  _ eat _ him? What  _ was _ this guy? He brandished his rod anyway, making a show of charging another spell.

“Not on my watch,” he said, and the black-haired man turned to face him fully, his back to the not-grim, with a big, chilling smirk.

“Oho, you’ve got spunk. I like it - gives you an interesting flavor when I’m eating your intestines. Not as good as fear, though,” he replied, and Souji once again repressed the urge to panic. Instead he looked over the black-haired man’s shoulder, very briefly, and made eye contact with the brown-haired man, hoping he’d get the message to run while he could. 

“I’ll only warn you once, monster,” Souji said, fire spell at the ready. “Leave now, or you won’t live to regret it.”

“You know, Mages are so rare around here, I consider them a delicacy,” the man replied, totally ignoring Souji’s warning. He took a step forward and started to speak again, but Souji simply unleashed his fire spell instead of letting him talk. The man was instantly engulfed in a pillar of flames that shot up into the sky. He heard the not-grim gasp and saw him turn tail and run, and thought that was probably a great idea. He glanced back to make sure his path was clear, and then took off running.  He let his hood fall back against his shoulders, making it all the easier to look back and make sure the monster hadn’t escaped the fire somehow. He saw a hand shoot out of the flames, clutching a gun, and he couldn’t react fast enough. Metal pierced one of his legs and he went down hard on the cold ground.

“That was a high-level fire spell,” the cold voice said, and Souji managed to roll himself onto his back and sit up, dagger and rod at the ready in front of him. The black-haired man was calmly approaching him, gun in front of him and trained at Souji’s head. He appeared to be a little singed, smoke rising off of his form. He’d managed to overpower Souji’s fire spell, somehow, and all Souji could think was that he’d at least damaged him. The man came to a stop a few feet away from him, never lowering the gun, red eyes glaring down at him with unmasked hatred.

“Just for that, I won’t eat you. I’m going to tear you limb-from-limb, and rip your soul apart! How does that sound, brat?” he seethed, and Souji tried to get his thoughts in order enough to at least prepare a shield spell to stop the bullet, but his leg hurt so much and he was losing blood. 

All of a sudden, a gigantic brown dog lept from the trees nearby and barreled straight into the black-haired man, knocking the gun out of his hands and pushing him to the ground. The dog went straight for the black-haired man’s throat, intent on ripping it out, but the black-haired man shoved him back. The dog landed in a heap on the ground nearby with a yelp, and he was somehow covered in huge, bloody gashes. Souji didn’t even realize why until he looked back and the black-haired man, whose hands had seemed to sprout huge black claws, now dripping red with the dog’s blood. The black-haired man snarled, and Souji saw his window of opportunity. He’d been avoiding using this spell, but this was life-or-death, and he didn’t know if the man’s boast about ripping apart his soul was true or not, but he didn’t want to take chances.

“Hamaon!” he shouted, and he saw the black-haired man’s eyes widen just before a huge burst of white light engulfed him and lit up the surrounding area. Souji felt his energy drain to almost nothing, felt his skin go cold, and barely kept himself from passing out, but when the light faded the black-haired man was gone. Souji honestly didn’t have enough awareness to tell if he’d been vaporized by the spell or simply fled, but the important part was that he was gone. A ring of soft golden light was around both Souji and the dog, and nothing could enter the ring and harm them as long as the light didn’t go out. 

And he’d found his church grim. He was certain of it - even though it wasn’t a  _ black _ dog, it was still the grim. He just needed to keep it alive or...wait, maybe he should let it die? The request had only been to stop the grim from making noise at night and keeping the surrounding houses awake. In any case, he needed to take care of himself first. He didn’t even have enough energy left to heal his own bullet wound, after all. He struggled into a sitting position and, with a sigh of regret, ripped a long strip of fabric of of the bottom of his now ruined robe, wrapping it tightly around the wound. When he looked up from that task, the dog had somehow gotten up and shuffled closer to him, because he found himself face-to-face with it. He flinched back, startled, and tried to back away only to get the painful reminder that, oh yeah, he’d been  _ shot _ .

“Oh, sorry,” the voice of the brunette from earlier rang out, and the dog’s form shifted into the form of the man from earlier. He looked like he was in even worse shape in this form, blood running down the side of his head from a cut in his hair and clothes nearly torn to shreds. But he gave a cheerful smile anyway, and sat down in front of Souji. “Guess I was a little scary in that other form, huh? Sorry about that,” he said, as if he wasn’t literally bleeding to death. “Name’s Jiraiya and...we’re both in kind of a tight spot, aren’t we?”

“Souji Seta,” Souji replied, as if  _ he _ wasn’t also bleeding to death, holding out his hand to shake. Jiraiya held his hands up, palms out, to show Souji that they were both absolutely covered in blood and dirt. 

“Prolly not a good idea,” he said, and Souji nodded. “Anyway, I don’t want to die here, and I’m sure you’ve got better things to do too.”

“Yes,” Souji replied, somewhat baffled at the fact that this guy - Jiraiya, he amended - could be so cheerful when they were both  _ literally bleeding to death _ .

“So...and I know this is kind of a ‘last resort’ type of thing, but I want to make a deal with you,” Jiraiya continued. Souji raised an eyebrow, but he doubted that Jiraiya could see it, as he wore his bangs so long they covered them. 

“Go on,” Souji prompted. Making a deal with a fairy could be dangerous, he knew that of course. But Jiraiya was very badly injured, and Souji was less so - and Souji had far more magical ability than Jiraiya did. It might at least be worth hearing him out. 

“You don’t have a familiar, do you?” Jiraiya asked, looking somewhat hesitant, and Souji’s shock must have shown on his face, because Jiraiya laughed, nervously. “Well?”

“I don’t...but you do realize that if you became my familiar, your life would be in my hands, right? You would die when I die. You’d have to go where I go and do what I say,” Souji answered, and Jiraiya laughed.

“Of course I know that,” he replied. “But does it look like I have a lot of options? I’m dying, here. And even if I managed to make it out of this magical ring alive, that guy would just come again another night and try to eat me. I don’t want to get eaten, especially by someone like him.”

“What is he?” Souji asked.

“I heard stories about him all the time when I was a kid, but I never thought he was actually real…” Jiraiya started, looking terrified. “He’s a ghoul. But like, not a normal ghoul that eats humans. He likes to eat fairies, and ghosts, and all kinds of supernatural stuff.”

A ghoul that could eat fairies, huh? Souji shivered. He really had only barely escaped with his life and soul intact, then. If he was going to have to deal with something like  _ that _ , he’d need all the help he could get. He might even have to contact his father...if he made it out of this forest alive, at any rate. 

But would his father even talk to him, if he knew he’d taken on a fairy for a familiar…?

“Alright,” Souji said, finally. “If you’re sure it’s what you want, then you can become my familiar.” He saw the grim visibly relax and breathe out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks man, you’re a lifesaver. Literally, heh,” Jiraiya replied. Then he held out his right hand, palm up, and Souji nodded. He carefully unwrapped part of his leg and swiped his right hand through the blood, taking time to re-bandage the wound. Then he lifted his hand toward Jiraiya’s, threading his fingers with the brunette’s before pressing their palms together.

* * *

 

“Hey, Hana-chan!” a voice called. It was a warm voice, a nice voice, and it belonged to a girl that was just as warm and nice as the voice implied. She had long, wavy blonde hair and a big, gorgeous smile. Souji could tell right away that this was Saki Konishi, and he could see why Jiraiya had been so attached to her that he’d come to cry at her grave every night. 

“Hana-chan, here boy!” Souji turned to look at where she was looking, and a dog came bounding over a nearby hill. The dog wasn’t as big as Jiraiya’s grim form was, and instead of the darker brown color it was a lighter, almost golden brown. Saki laughed as the dog - Jiraiya - bounded toward her and stopped short of pouncing on her, rising up on his hind legs to lick at her face before she wrapped her arms around him, laughing all the way. 

Souji turned to see Jiraiya beside him, in human form. He was wearing a long robe made of brown fur, and his eyes were sad, but hopeful at the same time. 

“I was just a normal dog,” Jiraiya explained, turning to look over at the scene playing out - one of his memories. Souji noticed that the cloak had a hood, and there were two ears on the top of the hood, and a bushy tail on the back. Cute. “I always wanted a human form, so I could comfort her. She got bullied a lot, y’know.” The scene faded as Saki settled down on the grassy hilltop, the dog’s head in her lap as she petted him. “...and then she died. I didn’t know what to do. The police think it was suicide, but Saki was murdered, damn it.”

“So that’s why you became a grim?” Souji asked, and Jiraiya nodded. They appeared to be standing in a void of blackness now. Jiraiya turned to face him fully, ducking his head a little. 

“I know I already asked you for a lot, becoming your familiar, but...do you think you could help me find Saki’s killer, and bring him to justice? After that, I’ll be content to do whatever you want me to, for as long as you want me to.”

Souji sighed. As if he didn’t have enough work to do. But...he just couldn’t say no.

“Sure,” he said, and Jiraiya looked up with a huge grin. The tail on his cloak was wagging, which was a little weird, but Souji had seen weirder. 

“Okay then,” the grim said, reaching out and grabbing both of Souji’s hands. “All that’s left is to give me a name. I can’t go by Jiraiya anymore.”

The name ‘Hana-chan’ came to mind, but Souji dismissed it immediately - he didn’t exactly know the rules, but he couldn’t pick a name that the familiar would have any connection to. He stared at the grim, thinking about the brown grim form and the golden dog form, and noticed that he had a splash of freckles across his cheeks. Cute.

Was it bad to fall for your familiar? Probably.

“Yosuke,” Souji named, and Yosuke’s eyes slid closed, his grin fading to a pleased smile. The black void turned white around them. 

“Yosuke,” he said, as if tasting the name. “I like it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Souji stared down at the text exchange on his phone, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. He was already sitting in said coffee shop, Yosuke beside him in his human form. Naoto was running late. What if this urgent information she was talking about had already gotten her abducted or, worse, killed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I decided to add a new chapter to this for the "sci-fi/fantasy" prompt for Souyowrimo 2018.
> 
> I do have plans for more of this story, but I can't guarantee that I'll ever get around to writing it. I still have all of the rest of souyowrimo, a secret santa fic, and two other ongoing fics that I need to write, lol.

>>CAN WE MEET SOMEWHERE WE WONT BE OVERHEARD THIS IS URGENT

>What is it?

>>CANT SAY THROUGH TEXT

>Where do you want to meet, then?

>>COFFEE SHOP SHOULD WORK, SHE HAS A PRIVATE ROOM

>Okay. Meet there in half an hour?

>>GOOD. BRING YOSUKE.

 

Souji stared down at the text exchange on his phone, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. He was already sitting in said coffee shop, Yosuke beside him in his human form. Naoto was running late. What if this urgent information she was talking about had already gotten her abducted or, worse, killed?

The waitress, a bubbly witch named Rise Kujikawa, stuck her head into the room.

“Naoto-kun is here. Want me to bring you your usual orders?” she asked.

“Please,” Souji replied with a nod. She disappeared back through the door, and a few moments later, Naoto pushed it open and stepped inside. She nodded at them, quickly approaching the table and sitting across from them. She was holding a large, old-looking book. 

“What’s so important?” Yosuke asked, leaning over the table to look at the book. “And why did he need to bring me along?”

“Because this information pertains to you, Yosuke-san,” Naoto replied. She put the book on the table and, with a glance over her shoulder, leaned in closer to the two of them. “This is the compendium yearbook of Yasogami High. Every year they update it with pictures and a brief description of the graduating class.” 

“Okay? But what does this have to do with me? Is it something about Saki?” he asked, confused. Naoto shook her head.

“Yosuke-san, let me make sure I have this perfectly clear. You’ve told me that you were once a normal dog, who belonged to a woman named Saki Konishi. After her untimely death--”

“Murder,” Yosuke interjected, looking annoyed. Naoto nodded.

“After her murder, you made a deal with a fairy to become a grim, is that correct?” she asked.

“Yes. A fairy by the name of Izanami granted my wish and I became a grim,” Yosuke answered. Naoto nodded again.

“And, just to be clear, do you have any memories from when you were a young dog?” she asked. He looked a little put-out.

“Of course not. What, do you have memories from when you were a young human?” he asked. She nodded, and he looked confused.

“Not many, but I do have memories from my childhood. Most people do. Think hard, do you really have no memories of being a puppy?” she asked. He shook his head.

“None. Why?” he asked. Souji could feel how uneasy Yosuke was becoming, so he reached a hand over to settle it on one of his shoulders. Yosuke took a deep breath and let it out, looking over at him appreciatively, and Souji felt Yosuke’s emotions calm a little. 

“I have reason to believe that you were once a human,” Naoto said. Souji sat up a little straighter, blinking over at her in shock. And Yosuke.  _ Yosuke _ . 

“What? No, that’s not possible,” he said, sounding dismissive. He  _ felt _ anything but. Souji could feel Yosuke beginning to panic, internally. Naoto opened the large book to a page where a thick, leather bookmark had been placed. Then, she turned the book around and slid it over to their side of the table, pointing at one picture in particular. 

It was Yosuke. It was  _ undeniably _ Yosuke. The picture was in black and white, so the exact hair and eye color couldn’t be determined, but there was no doubt in Souji’s mind -- or in Yosuke’s -- that the picture in that book was definitely Yosuke.

“What the heck?” Yosuke asked, dread settling into his being. 

“Takehaya Hanamura,” Souji read the name that was below the picture. He suddenly remembered the vision he had gotten, when he and Yosuke had first become master and familiar, over a year ago. Saki had called him “Hana-chan”, hadn’t she?

He looked over at Yosuke to see him looking pale, eyes fixed on the book. He could feel a typhoon of emotions coming from him - fear, most prominently, and anger, and a deep, gut-wrenching sadness. 

“Yosuke-san?” Naoto eventually asked. He blinked, slowly coming back to himself. He shook his head. 

“Sorry, I...can we…” he choked out, and Souji got it. He turned to Naoto.

“Can we have a few minutes alone?” he asked, his voice gentle. Naoto nodded and stood, casting an unsure look at the book before deciding to leave it. As she went to leave, she intercepted Rise and politely informed her that they would be a few minutes, taking the three drinks and stepping outside. They were left in the room, magically enchanted to be quiet, just the two of them and the book, and a person that looked just like Yosuke staring up at them from the pages. 

It took a long time, but Yosuke eventually spoke.

“Takehaya was my name,” he said, his voice sounding grave. “Everybody called me Take, though. Back then, anyway.” Souji nodded, and patiently waited while Yosuke struggled to find his voice again. 

“I...god, it’s weird, I can remember some things so clearly now, but others I can’t...like, I can remember how it felt to play basketball, I can remember my parents, I can remember graduating, but I can’t...I can’t remember how I got...cursed,” he finally said.

“Cursed?” Souji repeated, and Yosuke nodded.

“I don’t remember how it happened, or why it happened, or even much about who cursed me. I just remember looking up at something really big and really tall, and a flash of light, and all of a sudden I was a dog.  _ That _ dog, the one you saw with Saki in the vision.”

“Are you sure it was a curse?” Souji asked, and Yosuke turned to glare at him.

“Well, it sure as hell wasn’t a deal with a fairy!” he huffed out, and Souji held up his hands to placate him. He felt a little bit of irritation from Yosuke, but not too much. 

“Okay, so you got cursed by something, and turned into a dog. Then what? Do you remember anything else?” Souji asked. Yosuke paused, as if considering it.

“Ugh, it’s so weird. I have all these new memories that I didn’t have a few minutes ago, except they’re old memories...it’s weird to feel like it’s totally normal to have all this information, only to be surprised by it...does that make any sense?” he asked.

“A little,” Souji replied. After a few minutes, Yosuke nodded to himself and continued.

“I guess whatever it was that turned me into a dog erased all my memories of being human,” he explained. “Because I don’t remember feeling concerned about  _ being _ a dog all of a sudden. I wandered Inaba for a while and got adopted by the Konishis. Because of Saki.” Here he stopped and gave a small, bitter smile. “She was so young. Maybe six or seven? And she found me in the woods and begged her parents to keep me. I guess the rest is history, until she died.”

“Do you think this entity that cursed you might have something to do with her death?” Souji asked. Yosuke shrugged.

“Could be. Who knows? All we know for sure is that there’s something out here cursing people for...some reason,” he said. Souji nodded.

“Want to let Naoto back in?” he asked. He could feel that Yosuke was starting to calm down a bit. Yosuke nodded. He stood up and went over to the door, finding Naoto at a small table nearby. He waved her back in. 

“Hmm,” Naoto said, after they’d relayed all of the information about Yosuke’s previous life to her. “I see. So this Takehaya  _ was _ you. Interesting.”

“Interesting?” Souji parroted. Naoto flipped a page and pointed to a date. 

“If this is true, Yosuke-san, that means you were a student at Yasogami fifty years ago,” she pointed out. Yosuke’s jaw dropped and Souji pushed himself up a bit, to get a better look at the date. What Naoto was was saying was true - it really was from fifty years ago. 

“Miss Konishi died at age twenty, just two years ago. If you were with her from age six or seven, that is only a difference of thirteen or fourteen years. And if you are sure that you remember being cursed into your dog form shortly after graduation then...where were you during the intervening years, I wonder?” 

Yosuke sat back, looking absolutely floored.

“And more to the point, why hasn’t anyone in Inaba recognized you yet? Your parents moved away long ago, but surely a teacher or classmate would have recognized you. You do walk around Inaba quite a bit in your human form.”

“I...I don’t know,” Yosuke managed to reply, looking over at Souji. Souji could feel the panic swimming just below the surface of his emotions. This time he reached over and took one of Yosuke’s hands, slowly lacing their fingers together. Yosuke squeezed his hand, and Souji squeezed back. The panic didn’t start to ebb, but it felt like he was starting to control it.

“This requires further investigation,” Naoto sighed. “This is quite curious indeed.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke responded, with a bewildered laugh. “Yeah, holy shit.”

“Don’t do anything rash, you two. We have no way of knowing if this entity that cursed Yosuke-san is still here, or still bears him a grudge. Please, exercise caution. You know how to contact me.” 

And with that, Naoto stood, collecting the book and her drink, and left the room.

It was a long few moments before Yosuke was able to collect himself, standing up shakily. As soon as Souji let go of his hand he shook himself and transformed into his dog form.

“Whew, that’s better. I feel like I need to be closer to the ground right now, haha,” he heard Yosuke’s voice say. Souji gave him a small smile and a shake of his head.

“Just be glad this place is pet-friendly, Yosuke,” he said. Yosuke barked out a laugh that was a bit more bark than laugh. 

“Do you think we should tell any of the others?” Souji mused. “Amagi-san’s family may know something, they were certainly here fifty years ago.”

“Yeah, couldn’t hurt to ask,” Yosuke’s voice replied. Souji gave him a thoughtful look.

“What about my uncle?” he asked, and Yosuke sighed.

“Yeah, we should tell him, too. Ugh, what a mess,” the dog replied. Souji bent down a little and gave him a pat on the head, which caused Yosuke to project the image of him rolling his eyes at him. 

“Yeah, I’m gonna need you to definitely not treat me so much like a dog, now that I know I was a human to start with,” he griped. Souji shook his head and reached to scratch behind Yosuke’s ears, causing him to make a whining noise. “H-hey! Cut it out, you know that’s my weak spot!”

“Hmm, maybe you were actually a dog that was cursed to become a human,” Souji started. Yosuke shook his head to dislodge his hand and glared up at him. “...who was cursed to become a dog, who made a deal with a fairy to become a grim, who made a deal with a human to become their familiar.”

“Gah!” Yosuke’s voice protested. “Stop, stop, you’re gonna confuse me!” He huffed and paced over to the door, sitting down on his haunches and continuing to glare over at Souji for a moment, before he made a sighing noise. “And with those...what, thirty-six missing years of memories, who the heck knows? I could’ve been an elephant for all I know!” 

“I’m sure you weren’t an elephant,” Souji said, placating. He collected their drinks and went to stand beside his familiar. “With the way you eat? A pig is more likely.”

“Rude,” Yosuke replied, with a shake of his head. Souji was absolutely sure that if he had hands instead of paws right now, he’d be flipping him off. Souji reached out and pushed the door open, and the two of them slipped out into the bustling cafe. He gave a friendly wave to Rise, and a nod to the owner of the cafe, before the two of them left to head for the Amagi Inn.

Between this new mystery, that crazy fairy-eating ghoul from last year, and the recent string of bizarre murders and kidnappings...Inaba was turning out to be nothing like the sleepy little country town Souji had pictured coming to. He almost wished it  _ was _ like that, but...well, if not for all of this, he wouldn’t have met any of his friends, and he  _ certainly _ wouldn’t have ever met Yosuke. He turned a contemplative look down to the brown dog trotting beside him. He’d never trade their bond for a normal life. Not in a million years.


End file.
